These Championships were a bit different as the last ones. The first reason was that the peak of the season was the European Championships here in Slovakia just two weeks before our national champs. And the second reason was that this time it was a part of big festival – Riot river fest.
It was a freestyle event where you could find disciplines as the river surfing, BMX, cross fit, freestyle kayak, kayak cross…
We were tired from serious training so we wanted to make it more as a fun event. Peter was the main organizer of the kayak part of the event and he didn't compete.
The competition started on Saturday. We made a prelims as a session format which means there were about 3 minutes for a paddlers and you could do each move only one time. This was more fun for all the paddles and they could enjoy their rides. We were happy to see many paddlers from Slovakia who couldn't compete at Europeans but didn't miss the opportunity to start here and paddled with friends at our “small event”.
After mornings prelims we went straight to evening’s finals, which took a part straight after surfing finals. I had a good practise from Europeans and did pretty good ride and took a gold medal. Marcel Blooder, our friend from Austria, took a gold in men’s category.
At the evening started a concert. You could see many bands that played till the night and did pretty good atmosphere there. On Sunday was the kayak cross event. We had pro categories where the many slalom paddlers took a part but the amateur category as well where the “normal” kayakers could fight each other’s.
I really enjoyed this event. I could relax because our peak of the season was successfully behind us and could paddle just for fun. I love to paddle at the small event as this one. It is nice to be on the water with the friends and don't worry and don't stress about your start.
I am already looking forward for the next year!
Nina
